Post by chickenwing on Jun 16, 2017 11:15:45 GMT -8
Sunday we got back from a 12 day camping trip up the Sunshine Coast, across to Vancouver Island to Strathcona Provincial Park down through Gabriola Island before coming home. 12 days in the bus was the longest we've spent in the bus since I've had it and we both agreed that the trip should've and definitely could've been twice as long and equally as enjoyable! Maybe one day I'll go full on hippie and live full time in my bus. The Vancouver housing prices today make that sound like a reasonable option, actually. There's an old Dodge camper parked two blocks from our place that you can rent out on Airbnb for $80 a night! Aside from one unwanted furry hitchhiker we picked up in Strathcona that led to a sleepless night of paranoia, the trip went smoothly and the bus performed beautifully.
This post is going to be pic heavy, so enjoy the photos if you wish. Happy travels!
After taking the ferry over to Gibsons on a Wednesday morning, our first two stops were at two breweries. Both of us really, really, really enjoy good beer. I'm not going to tell you how many growlers we picked up along the way...We spent the night in Roberts Creek.
The next day we drove up the coast to a rec site on Klein Lake, past Egmont, near Skookumchuk. We had to drive along a service road for part of it (sorry, Don!) and I got pretty good at dodging pot holes but it was well worth it. We had our pick of the sites and shared the lake with no one but a beaver that swam by our site the evening of both nights. I even caught a couple trout from our little dock! A while back I had picked up an EZ Awning from Dr. Bjorn's Auto. Yes, I know it's grey and yes, I know it doesn't match my pop top canvas, but it's definitely worth it to have on those rainy days!
After a couple nights, we reluctantly packed up and caught a not-so-busy ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay and drove further up the coast, past Powell River to another rec site 4 km South of Lund called Dinner Rock. We both fell in love with this site. Definitely our favourite of the trip by far and how could it not be with that view?! The site overlooks Malaspina Strait and is directly across from Savary Island. The site isn't well known and it was so gorgeous I almost didn't want to share. The sunset was incredible and seeing the full moon hang just overhead of Savary in the middle of the night while illuminating the entire strait was breathtaking. We will most certainly be back. We did have to drive down another service road to get there though. This one was very steep and thus paved. Met a nice oyster farmer named Bob there who claimed to have built the place back in the 70's. He dropped by our site twice, the second time with a couple burgers, and two jars of smoked oysters and pickled prawns for us. In one of the photos you'll see a Coors Banquet. While this is by no means "good" beer, it does match the bus
We took the ferry from Powell River to Comox and stayed a night at Miracle Beach campsite. I used to stay here as a kid with my family and remember loving it. But after the places we stayed at the days before, Miracle Beach was large (over 200 sites, flush toilets and showers) and underwhelming. We drove up through Campbell River to Strathcona Provincial Park the next day. Strathcona holds a very special place in my heart as I used to go frequently throughout high school. If you've never been, do yourself a favour and go. The road through follows Buttle Lake and the views of snow capped mountains, grassy marshes and glassy water are truly breathtaking. Paradise. We spent the night at a site on Ralph River. Our particular site backed out onto the river itself. If it wasn't for a little mouse that somehow found its way into the bus while we were sleeping we would have definitely stayed two nights at least. We spent the night wide awake and afraid and jumping at the slightest sound or movement and armed ourselves with a fly swatter that we broke 10 minutes into our hunt. I tore the bus apart in the morning but we weren't satisfied that our little friend had left and knew we couldn't spend another night like that so we packed up and very reluctantly left the park. We will definitely be back.
The longest drive we did on the trip was from Strathcona to Nanoose Bay. Luckily it was a weekday and the highway was more or less deserted. As expected, the bus performed beautifully. I couldn't have been happier. We wrapped up the trip with a little side trip over to Gabriola Island where we met up with a few friends for the weekend. Andrea's cousin lives on the island in a cobb house that I was very envious of. One last photo taking in the sunshine on Berry Point.
Thanks for reading!
This post is going to be pic heavy, so enjoy the photos if you wish. Happy travels!
After taking the ferry over to Gibsons on a Wednesday morning, our first two stops were at two breweries. Both of us really, really, really enjoy good beer. I'm not going to tell you how many growlers we picked up along the way...We spent the night in Roberts Creek.
The next day we drove up the coast to a rec site on Klein Lake, past Egmont, near Skookumchuk. We had to drive along a service road for part of it (sorry, Don!) and I got pretty good at dodging pot holes but it was well worth it. We had our pick of the sites and shared the lake with no one but a beaver that swam by our site the evening of both nights. I even caught a couple trout from our little dock! A while back I had picked up an EZ Awning from Dr. Bjorn's Auto. Yes, I know it's grey and yes, I know it doesn't match my pop top canvas, but it's definitely worth it to have on those rainy days!
After a couple nights, we reluctantly packed up and caught a not-so-busy ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay and drove further up the coast, past Powell River to another rec site 4 km South of Lund called Dinner Rock. We both fell in love with this site. Definitely our favourite of the trip by far and how could it not be with that view?! The site overlooks Malaspina Strait and is directly across from Savary Island. The site isn't well known and it was so gorgeous I almost didn't want to share. The sunset was incredible and seeing the full moon hang just overhead of Savary in the middle of the night while illuminating the entire strait was breathtaking. We will most certainly be back. We did have to drive down another service road to get there though. This one was very steep and thus paved. Met a nice oyster farmer named Bob there who claimed to have built the place back in the 70's. He dropped by our site twice, the second time with a couple burgers, and two jars of smoked oysters and pickled prawns for us. In one of the photos you'll see a Coors Banquet. While this is by no means "good" beer, it does match the bus
We took the ferry from Powell River to Comox and stayed a night at Miracle Beach campsite. I used to stay here as a kid with my family and remember loving it. But after the places we stayed at the days before, Miracle Beach was large (over 200 sites, flush toilets and showers) and underwhelming. We drove up through Campbell River to Strathcona Provincial Park the next day. Strathcona holds a very special place in my heart as I used to go frequently throughout high school. If you've never been, do yourself a favour and go. The road through follows Buttle Lake and the views of snow capped mountains, grassy marshes and glassy water are truly breathtaking. Paradise. We spent the night at a site on Ralph River. Our particular site backed out onto the river itself. If it wasn't for a little mouse that somehow found its way into the bus while we were sleeping we would have definitely stayed two nights at least. We spent the night wide awake and afraid and jumping at the slightest sound or movement and armed ourselves with a fly swatter that we broke 10 minutes into our hunt. I tore the bus apart in the morning but we weren't satisfied that our little friend had left and knew we couldn't spend another night like that so we packed up and very reluctantly left the park. We will definitely be back.
The longest drive we did on the trip was from Strathcona to Nanoose Bay. Luckily it was a weekday and the highway was more or less deserted. As expected, the bus performed beautifully. I couldn't have been happier. We wrapped up the trip with a little side trip over to Gabriola Island where we met up with a few friends for the weekend. Andrea's cousin lives on the island in a cobb house that I was very envious of. One last photo taking in the sunshine on Berry Point.
Thanks for reading!